Avery Mazor tells the story behind the art

The walls of UNO’s art gallery are currently lined with photographs. “Avery Mazor: Text Messages and Other Works” is the beginning of a profound study of the human-divine relationship.  
Avery Mazor, Graphic design professor at UNO,  began this study two summers ago.  Mazor was on his way to spend the summer in Israel when a friend asked him to contribute art to an art show dedicated to Dia De Los Muertos the upcoming fall.  Dia De Los Muertos is the Hispanic holiday that celebrates the past lives of deceased loved ones. At a art lecture on Sept. 5 Mazor admitted that he had never thought about creative words that deal with the afterlife.

Mazor said beng a Jewish person, being in Israel was the perfect time to begin contemplating his views on the afterlife. First, he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem.  The Western Wall was built in 20 B.C.E. by King Herod.  The wall enclosed the Jewish holy Temple Mount.  In 70 C.E.; Romans destroyed the Temple Mount, leaving only remnants of the now sacred Western Wall.  Today, Jewish pilgrims come to the site to mourn, pray, and worship.  
Mazor then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  The Church is said to be the holiest of all Christian sites.  It was built around Golgatha -  the site where Jesus was believed to have been crucified.  The main part of the church is centered around the actual crucifixion site, but there are about 50 separate chapels that house each different Christian denomination.  
Mazor found one commonality between the two holy sites; there were tiny pieces of paper shoved in between the stones of both places.  For decades, both Jews and Christians would write tiny notes or prayers to the divine and place them inside of the infrastructure.  Mazor was drawn to this concept of connecting with a higher power.

UNO’s current art exhibit “Avery Mazor: Text Messages and Other Works” is a compilation of a journey studying this concept.  The “Other Works” segment of the display is a variety of different mediums through which Mazor shows a perspective of being on the outside looking in, which can be interpreted as a metaphor from his religious studies.  
The exhibit will run through Sept. 27 and is free and open to the public  Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. -3 p.m.